§ MR. M'GOVERN (Cavan, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Henry Black, who died some time ago, near Killeshandra, in the county Cavan, served for over thirty years in the Royal Irish Constabulary, and contributed to the Constabulary Force Fund for a period of over forty-six years, in order that his wife and children should be entitled to a gratuity upon his death; that Black's wife died a short time before himself; and that, at the time of Black's death, he left three children, aged nine, eleven, and thirteen years respectively, totally unprovided for; and can he state on what grounds, seeing that these children are destitute, was an application to the Constabulary authorities for a gratuity for them out of the Constabulary Force Fund refused.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe contributions of the deceased constable to the fund were made on the express condition (common to all such contributions) that grants would be payable to such children only as were born while he was serving in the force. This being so, the Inspector General is precluded, by the rules governing the fund, from making a grant to the throe children in question.